Let there be no confusion: There is a cultural war raging in our country and the weapon of mass destruction being used against our teens and young adults in particular is the smartphone. Of course, these devices can be incredibly useful in communicating, doing research, finding treasures of information, even navigating our cars. But, we can not afford to turn a blind eye to the enormous dangers that come with such instant global access.

Last night was the first meeting of our new Adult Faith Formation class, 7 Deadly Sins – 7 Lively Virtues, provided by Word on Fire Ministries. I won’t repeat the general idea and outline of the course material; you can read that in my previous blog post.

Today, however, I’d just like to give a quick report on the people side of the story and to highlight the discussions we had on the Introduction questions. Since the intent of this class is personal reflection in preparation of Lent and Easter, we limit the actual in-class session to about an hour in length. As facilitator, I select a subset of the questions contained in the student workbooks, and we discuss those in class to help guide the individual’s home study and reinforce the main take-away points. Continue reading “7 Sins – 7 Virtues: Introduction”

On the good news front, the season of Lent is fast approaching. Lent is my favorite season of the entire liturgical calendar and it’s just around the corner. Advent is a wonderful time of preparation and Christmas is exciting with the arrival of our Incarnate Lord, but I have to admit to having some difficulties each year getting past the ultra-commercialization and into the spirit of Christmas. Lent on the other hand is that time of preparation that just seems easier for me in moving closer to our Lord. The bad news is that time races on and Lent is literally just around the corner. This year in particular, Lent begins very early with Ash Wednesday observed on February 10th. It’s also hard to believe that Easter will be celebrated in March!!!

Anyway, with Lent approaching I’ve been spending more and more time reflecting on how to make this Lent an even more intimate encounter with Christ. Past Lenten seasons have been good as I’ve ramped up my prayer life, increased attendance at daily Mass and going to the Sacrament of Confession, and of course giving something up to unify myself with His sacrifice on the Cross. This year a new and slightly different opportunity has surfaced at my parish. The director of our Adult Faith Formation recently asked me to facilitate a 7 session class on the Seven Deadly Sins, Seven Lively Virtues(click here) beginning Jan 20th. This class is a DVD-based study hosted by Bishop Robert Barron and provided by Word on Fire Ministries(click here). In addition to a short 15-20 minute video presentation by Bishop Barron each week, a set of 10 questions is provided to promote group discussion, sharing and understanding. My task will be to guide the group discussions and field any other related questions that may surface.

Most of us are aware of the seven deadly sins being those human tendencies that mortally wound our relationship with God. However, the theme being emphasized during this study is that for each of these seven deadly sins there are seven virtues that act as an antidote to that deadly sin. Here is the list of each according to the upcoming class notes as well as a couple common alternative names ( ).

Deadly Sin

Lively Virtue

Pride

Humility

Envy

Admiration

Anger (Wrath)

Forgiveness

Sloth

Zeal (Diligence)

Avarice (Greed)

Generosity

Gluttony

Asceticism (Temperance)

Lust

Chastity

So you are probably asking, what does this have to do with Lent 2016? This class is a great opportunity to approach Lent with an attitude of taking positive action. Instead of simply avoiding a deadly sin, which is always good, we can now focus on embracing the lively virtues to become more like Christ.

This post is the first of a series and serves as just an introduction to the class and an invitation to return to this blog and see how the class is going. I’ll be regularly posting reports of each class session, reviewing some of the group discussion highlights and maybe even posting a surprise with some interesting new reading material.

The internet is full of fabulous resources for discovering and enriching our faith experience. The problem, at least for me, is that many of these sources, be they blogs or books or articles, are written by super-educated theologians, philosophers or counselors. I sometimes have difficulty grasping the essence of the message and often get very frustrated. Now of course, there is the time and place for detailed university-level type discourse, but for most of us, most of the time, all we really need is to see the forest, not the minute details of trees.

Therefore, this blog is my attempt to present the wonderful message of the Gospel in terms that I believe most people can understand and embrace. I’ll be posting on subjects ranging from theology, Scripture, social issues, liturgy and Church history. I expect that the comments and responses to my writings will begin dialog leading us all to a richer and more intimate relationship with Christ. If you have any topic in particular you would like addressed, please contact me and I’ll do my best to respond.

My positions and viewpoints in SCT will obviously reflect my beloved Catholic faith and I realize that many will disagree. However, the intent is not to necessarily change anyone’s mind, but to just communicate clearly what is believed and why. Clarity in thought must precede agreement and simple clarity is the goal of SCT.

All comments, including those from differing viewpoints are most welcome. I firmly believe that if we surround ourselves and talk only with people that we agree with then intellectual and spiritual growth can be stunted.

I expect to deepen my own faith thru this blog, both from the necessity to compose my thoughts into written form but to also receive comments, pro and con, and engage in useful dialog.

Enjoy Simple Catholic Truth and I look forward to hearing from you in the comments sections.